One of the phases of software development is software testing. That is, the software is tested to ensure that interactions with the software produce expected results. For purpose of this discussion, software testing may be conceptually divided into two areas, functional testing and configuration testing. In functional testing, the internal operation of the software is tested. That is, the testing determines whether the software correctly performs the functions for which it was designed. A subcomponent of the functional testing is testing of user interfaces for regional or international operation. For example, while the underlying task of a program may be the same regardless of execution location (e.g., shopping cart software), the user interface language (e.g., Japanese, French, English) and currency type may differ.
In configuration testing, the operation of the software in different operating configurations is tested. For example, before release of a Java-based program to be executed by end-users through a web browser, the developer may test that the Java-based program works correctly on computer systems with differing hardware and/or software configurations, or on different versions of a Java. Another example is testing whether a web application can be deployed on different J2EE servers (e.g., WebSphere, WebLogic or JBoss).